A U.S. court in New Jersey has decided that property valued at around $8.9 million stolen by Nigerian government officials in 2014 may be sent back to Nigeria. The court determined that money put in a Jersey bank account in 2014 was probably embezzled by officials in the Nigerian government after the Attorney General of Jersey served the court with a forfeiture order in November.
Now, talks with the Federal Republic of Nigeria will begin over the restoration of these assets. The money transfers took the form of official contracts for the procurement of weapons during the Boko Haram insurgency that raged in Nigeria from 2009 to 2015.
The government of Jersey stated that there’s a good chance that a sizable amount of money intended for actual arms deals was diverted via foreign bank accounts linked to sham corporations.
Mark Temple KC, His Majesty’s Attorney General stated, “This case again demonstrates the effectiveness of the 2018 Forfeiture Law in recovering the proceeds of corruption and restoring that money to victims of crime.
“I now intend to negotiate an asset return agreement with the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The international community has recently started looking into embezzled money from banks under its authority to stop corruption and make sure public funds are used for the benefit of the people. Among these loots that were repatriated, Gen. Sani Abacha was a prominent figure.
According to research published by ThisDay, the former leader’s entire wealth over the previous 24 years was believed to be $3.65 billion. The bulk of the stolen money came from Switzerland, and these funds were held in foreign institutions located in both Europe and the US.
The $150 million return from France in November 2023 was the final of these repatriations to Nigeria.
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